Latest / Foul Territory / 156 game season coming soon? + Cubs checkup w/Sharma

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156 game season coming soon? + Cubs checkup w/Sharma · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: In the weeds.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: This one had been in the can for a minute,
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: and we finally have some time to unravel it. If
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: MLB expands, could it's one hundred and sixty two game
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: schedule shrink it?
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Very well? Might? This story by Jason Stark.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: He is usually locked in on topics like this regarding
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the league in significant changes, and we can show you
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: what he's dealing with so you can conceptualize it. This
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: stemmed from the realignment conversation. When Rob Manford brought it up.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: It just sparked articles. This has been going on for
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: a while behind the scenes, but the shrinking of the
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: schedules interesting, Stark said. One club official we spoke with
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: casually referred to baseball's current one hundred and sixty two
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: game slog as quote an endangered species. Another club exec said, emphatically,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: expansion means the end of one sixty two. So that's
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: what they're talking about here, and here's how they would
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: lay it out. If there's thirty two teams, he thinks
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: there will be one hundred and fifty six games, which
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: is close to what we had for a long period
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of time in Major League Baseball, which was one hundred
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and fifty four. You give twelve games a piece versus
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the other three teams inside the division. That's thirty six.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Six games a piece. Against the other twelve teams in
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: your league, that's seventy two. That gets you to a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: total of one toh eight. Then three games a piece
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: versus the sixteen teams on the other side, and now
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: we're at one fifty six, and that's the number, and
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: that would give you two series a week for twenty
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: six weeks fifty two total. It would give you an
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: average of at least one off day per week for
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: each team, and give you the one hundred and fifty
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: six game schedule. Now, it's something that's happened in the past.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: We had one fifty four for a long period of time,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and then as we expanded, we went to one sixty two.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: The article talks about about a billion dollars per year
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: for the last few years of players on the injured list.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: But let's start with the overall topic of one sixty
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: two to one fifty six. Are you for it and
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: do you think it happens.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I don't think it happens. I mean players have been
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: people have been talking about shortening the schedule forever. But
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to happen. And here here's
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the thing about this one fifty six number. Where are
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: they going to make up the are they going to
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: make up the money of those six games? That's why
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: why are the players injured? Because teams are so non
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: hesitant to put guys on the il That's why they
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: just all throw on the aisle for ten days. That's
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: a big deal. We'll be ready in ten days come back.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: And it used to be you try to avoid the
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: disabled this Now you're on the injured list all the time.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Are people are like, oh I'm a little bit tired, Okay,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: you can go on. You can take a ten day vacation.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: That's the difference, is why the money, Why they're losing
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: all this money is because people are just more willing
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: to go on it now. Yeah, and they're willing to
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: push the limits and throw their first pitch of the
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: game at one hundred miles an hour instead of pitch
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: through the game. But if you look at the padres,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: the Padres, I think one of their large draws they're
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: spending a lot of money and a quote small market
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: is the attendance they're averaging right around forty thousand at
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: one hundred and seven dollars on average is your ticket.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: If you cut out three games, they're gonna lose twelve
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: point eight four million dollars. I don't think because they
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: got three home games and three away games is what
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: they would lose in their schedule. I don't think you're
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: going to find a direct correlation in your players playing
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: six less games and staying healthy enough to let an
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: owner say, yeah, you know what, I'll get rid of
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: thirteen million dollars, No.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Problem, okay.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: In the article, he said, can this sport create additional
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: October inventory?
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Sure?
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: It could turn best of five series into best of sevens.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: It could go from twelve playoff teams to earmuffs for
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: some of you, sixteen, which creates eight best of three
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: first round series compared with four under the current format.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: And he reminds us that during the last labor negotiations
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: that were done in twenty twenty two, the league proposed
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: expanding the postseason to four team teams.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Just like the NFL. It was rejected.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: On the other side, we have obviously added a wild
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: card spot, so we now have three. We've got the
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: buy so we've got a little bit of different action
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: than we saw for a long period of time. Could
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: we expand that and make up the money that way?
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I actually think if we did expand the playoffs that way.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying them for it, but if we did, Kratz,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you would make up the money. The playoffs is where
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: the money's at. You lose a handful of regular season games,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you can make up for that if you expanded teams
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and expanded series in the playoffs.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Okay, does that increase competition? I think the biggest issue
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: between owners and players is competition. Players want every owner
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: to be competitive. If we let everybody into the playoffs,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: which I get it, I'm being over dramatic, and you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: when we expanded it's been great for the game and
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: extra series all that stuff. But if you don't incentivize
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: team to be competitive during the season, because now a
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: lot more guys get in, look at who wouldn't be
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: in right now if we hadn't expanded it like it is,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: then teams will try even less to build their team
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: because they're like, it really doesn't take that much to
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: get in, and once you're in, there's no real formula
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: to win. Is what everybody says, so I am against that,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: and I also think. I also think the one sixty
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: two to one fifty six is negligible. It's negligible. Cut
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: spring training down, expand if you really want, if you
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: really want guys to stay healthy, expand the roster. Don't
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: have guys take such a workload. Maybe those are things
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: instead of depriving fans of three less games at their
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: home field.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: This is a business, and.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Having fan bases involved as late as possible matters. It
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: mattered to with even one extra wild card. Have you
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: had at least one extra playoff spot per side? Look
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: at how many more fan bases are excited right now.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: And how many more teams don't try.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Well? You still want to make it to the playoffs.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, but let me ask you.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You're saying not trying hard.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: It's got the bulls.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Every year they make the playing game, where the fans
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: excited because they we get to go to the playing
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: game and lose every year, No, they're not. You want
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: to have a legitimate chance to win the World Series,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: not just get to the play Hey we got to
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: the playoffs. You think the Braves are excited for all
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: those years they won the titles and they only won
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: one World Series. Yeah it was cool, but yeah, even
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: the Braves fans stopped showing up because they got in
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: so often.
• 6:39
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• 6:43
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• 7:00
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• 7:04
  Speaker 3: days because we used to survive on this. We get
• 7:06
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• 7:08
  Speaker 3: them on our little electric grill, canapeas so mac and cheese.
• 7:11
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• 7:14
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• 7:16
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• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Dig in.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: There are also way less upsets in the NBA than
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: they're on MLB. You have a better chance to make
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: a crazy run. I mean we only have.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: To go two years back.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Two years back, nobody had Rangers Diamondbacks meeting up in
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: the World Series when the playoffs started.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: But yes, I agree with what you're saying. But if
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: you're if that's what you're saying, you're you're defending. My
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: argument is organizations don't spend on players to get the
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: best players out there because they realize that a team
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: like the Rangers can make a run. They feel like
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the Diamondbacks can make a run. And now look, the
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Diamondbacks have spent money and they're not in the playoffs.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: So incentivizing teams to need to be competitive for all
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty two or all one hundred and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: fifty six should be paramount in these contract negotiations.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, I still think that if you keep more fan
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: bases involved, it's going to make them more money. We've
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: seen that, right If we go to the older formats,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, you have fans right now that are still
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: following what Cleveland's doing, what Kansas City's doing, with San
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Francisco is doing, they would have been long gone and
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: some of the fan bases, even the Rangers and a
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: player on the Rangers and Josh Smith, thought they were
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: done already and now they're back in the mix. I'm
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: not saying I want this, but just presenting the case
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: that if you did add even two more playoff teams.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: The league has spoken they want it, they want fourteen teams,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and that's with thirty.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Why don't we just let everybody in, everyone in the
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: playoffs and see a double A and.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Say, you know, we're only just going to do the
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: playoffs because that's where the money is.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: So you don't think this will happen. You don't think.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Because the owners get what The owners always get what
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: they want at the end of the day, except first
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: salary cap so far, they always they've got everything else
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: they wanted, and they can do it without even arguing
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: about it. Really, they can just basically for they'll say, oh,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: we'll give them a sorry cap. We give us twenty
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: two teams in the postseason so we can make more money.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: You guys just get nothing out of it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: How about that, yeps making more money if they're in
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the playoffs?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Players make more money if there they don't they get
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a playoffs share.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: It's not it's not that much. Make nothing I make.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: I make money in the playoffs. AJ does not make
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: any money in the playoffs, superstars. He'll use their league
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: money in the playoffs from buying tickets. Yes, and hell,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: and a lot of times your leases up for your
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: guys and you have to run a hotel. Hell, you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: end up.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: Losing money in the playoffs.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe you guys win the World Series. You guys should
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: negotiate for more playoff share. If they're going to add
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: more playoff games and playoff teams.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Good look. Or maybe maybe maybe the teams should just
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: not give away playoff shares. Anyway, this is a playoff conversation.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to discuss that team shouldn't go handing
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: out playoff shares and then expect the players to because
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: it's the players playoff shares, expect them to hand it
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: out to employees that they promised them to when they
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: hired them. But no players players like AJ. If you
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: win the World Series and you make four hundred dollars
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: in playoff shares like AJ's contract, act don't do them now.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: But it was probably more than four hundred thousand dollars
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: in a month my contract. Absolutely, that's a huge bonus.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: That's a crazy bonus. But like the good players who
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: are actually playing in all of the World Series games
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: are most likely losing money during the playoffs. So it's
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: the playoffs aren't about money for the players. The playoffs
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: aren't all about money for the owners.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I mean the playoff pool when you look
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: at it for all the teams, what was it twenty
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: nineteen was eighty one million dollars, So it's it's real money.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: But I get what you're.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Breaking up so much because you have to give every Tom,
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Dick and Harry and the team a playoffs share, and
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: then you forget you always forget Somebodey and they get mad.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: It's just well, that part's always super weird.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: And we talked about that. I mean, those are team
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: employees that should be said.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: But here's the thing. Also, you have to understand so
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: players only get part of the first four games of
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: a seven game series, right, the other three goes all
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: of the owners. Why is that players had to play?
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: It's a ethics thing because that's but that's why they say, they.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Say, because there's more money in their pocket.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Because then players they don't want people to be rooting
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: for more.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: Was a player I rooted for every series.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: That I wasn't playing in to go seven games because
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I thought I got more money.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: I did, and I was wrong. It's stupid.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: They don't want the players involved in a series to
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: be like, let's go seven because we'll get paid more.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, I agree it's silly, but I do think
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: that they are. I just I'll put it this way.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I believe Jason Stark because I think he's plugged in
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: with the league. So I think they're gonna go to
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: one fifty six. They're gonna go one to fifty six,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: and you'll have at least fourteen playoff teams.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: That's my conclusion. Agree or disagree, crats.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, if Jason says it, I would have to
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: lean towards agree. That doesn't mean I agree with them,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: but I think it could happen.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, clearly I don't agree. That's fine, that's why we're
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: getting your perspective here. All right, let's get to the
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: copies today. Sharma's back on FT. You can check out
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: his articles in The Athletic and you can listen to
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: him and Patrick Mooney on North Side Territory. Get it
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: wherever you get your pods and you can look it
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: up on YouTube today. Good to see you again. I
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: gonna start with some downer news. We actually had him
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: on our show recently and he was awesome. But Danny
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Plentia hits the shelf, cubs lose their closer for now
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: what else DNL?
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, right now, we don't have a ton of information
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: on how he's doing physically. It sounds like they're gonna
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: let it and let him get some treatment, get let
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: it get checked out over the next couple of days.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: But I've heard some things that it may not be
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: that awful.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: Council was kind of hesitant to give any indication on
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: what direction we're going with this, but they wanted to
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: check everything out and see where he is by to
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: the end of the week. But right now, I'm not
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: getting any indication that that this is like an ending
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: the season type injury. It may just be a you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: he starts throwing again in a few days. If that's
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: the case, that's much better than what it looked like
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: when he was kind of bent over on the mound,
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: looking like, uh, is this a season ender type thing?
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: But you're you're always a little concerned. I mean, obviously
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: it's a shoulder, so you're always concerned. But if it
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: calms down and it was just a stinger type thing
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: that happened when he was on the mound and compounded
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: by the frustration of giving up a three to one lead,
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't be shocked if he's you know, if he's
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: back before the end of the season, especially if we
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: hear that he's throwing by the end of the week.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Today.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to go buy numbers necessarily, and I
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: don't think he's in the top ten in relief pitcher appearances.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: But do you feel like for someone who was thrust
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: into disclosure role and did really well with it, they
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: overused him or this is just.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: How life is.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not going to ask you to be
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: the doctor, but you watch every game, right, so did
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: you feel like he used.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: The hunter used correctly when they needed him.
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: I you know, I don't have appearances in front of me.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: I didn't get at the field that, wow, they're going
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: to Daniel Palencia a lot, if anything, I got would
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: get that feeling with like since they acquired Andrew Kittridge
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: or or even Brad Keller, and neither of those guys
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: have have shown any signs of really wearing down.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: I didn't get that feeling.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: No, the guys that I'd be concerned about are the
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: guys that I named, and they don't they they they
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: when I talk to them, they seem fine. And then
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: someone like Drew Pomerantz who has a long history of injury,
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: but they have been careful with pomorance. But I didn't
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: notice that with Palencia. I I you know, sometimes you
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: watch the games all the time and you're like, you know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: alarm belts go off, Oh this guy's going a ton,
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: or I feel like I'm watching this guy every other day.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I did not get that feeling with Polentcia.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: I will say they, I mean the you know, the
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: biggest question right now is offense, obviously, and and they've
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: been playing far too many close games. When you do that,
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: you will wear down your high leverage relievers. Council is
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: really good about saying when a guy's down, he's down.
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: I don't if it's a three to two game, I
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: need to have days off where I've just he's not available.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: I don't have the option of going to that guy.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: So he's pretty good about that.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Is Poalencia's injury kind of like are the is the
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: offense going?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Who?
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: Nobody can see us right now because the biggest news
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: is Palencia. You know, him going down? The offense?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Is there?
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Is there hope? Is there hope without a one hundred
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: per Kyle Tucker in the lineup?
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Without Kyle Tucker, it's it's really hard to have a
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: ton of hope. I do think Kyle Tucker is coming
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: back either today or tomorrow. That's the indication we've been getting. Uh,
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: you know, it sounds like he's fine. He We saw
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: him running out in the field at Truce Park the
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: other day what day was at Monday. He seemed like
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: he was going almost one hundred percent. That's what Council said.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Sounds like he's fine and ready to go. You don't
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: want this to linger, obviously, you need him healthy. Look,
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: I agree with you. I think the offense is the
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: bigger issue. Last night was tough to watch. I don't
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: get frustrated while watching these games. I'm pretty patient. I've
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: been waiting for this offense to turn the corner and
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: get back to what we saw early in the year.
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: But Monday night was a really lethargic offensive performance. It's
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: the type of thing that makes you kind of, what's
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: going on here? Where is this offensive pop? What happened
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: to this team? They face Bryce Elder twice in a
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: span of a week and couldn't do much against him
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: either night.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Really poor performance.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: A council was pointed about his comments about the offense
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: last night. Nico Horner. When we talked to him, you
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: could tell he was a little frustrated with how the
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: offenses looked lately. They just can't get it going, and
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: they need Tucker, they need PCA, they need their best
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: players to play like the best players in baseball.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna stay on Tucker. What's the feeling in Chicago
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: about Kyle Tucker. They traded for him to be the guy,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: and you know there was talk of okay, you know,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: we'll dish out four hundred and fifty million dollars for
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: this guy, even though the Cubs never dish any money
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: out like that, Is that still the feeling because if
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: you look at his justice ops plus for the season,
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: he is above his career norms. Is the feeling in
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: Chicago that, yes, this was a great trade. We're so
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: glad and Kyle Tucker has done an amazing job. We
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: need him back.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it really depends who you talk to. As far
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: as the front office, I think they understand how good
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: he is and how impactful he is fan base, they're
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: kind of changing their mind. They're changing their tune by
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: the performance.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: A month to month.
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: He had a really rough what was it July, and
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: then the start of August, Greig Council gave him that
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: break and then he had just a ridiculously great West
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Coast road trip. It was really impressive how he kind
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: of turned a corner and it was like he looked
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: lost and then suddenly he found it. And that's I
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: mean that A lot of that is baseball. We see
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: that you can never say, wow, this guy will never
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: find it again. Sometimes the guy looks terrible and then
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: suddenly they look like a great player. That's what happened
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: with Kyle Tucker and then this calf injury. I do
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: think there's some frustration among the fan base with that
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: extended slump. Maybe that goes more towards the team because
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: they say, hey, he hurt his finger, why didn't you
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: put him on the IL. I think the easy answer
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: to that is he heard his finger at July first,
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: and if you go look at his numbers in July,
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: there was no indication that the finger was hurting him
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: because he had his best month of the season offensively,
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: so it's hard to put all the blame on the finger. Clearly,
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: something was off for a month and a half there,
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: and people are the fan base and I'd say, you know,
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: radio hosts and things like that, there was frustration, and
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: I think that's fair. There are high expectations when you're
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: a superstar and when you're going to be the top
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: free agent, and when people are talking about crazy numbers
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: for a contract. You know, a lot of pressure and
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: a lot of high expectations that comes with the territory there.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: We spend a lot of time on the road.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: We are often concerned about our online security when you're
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: logging in from all over the globe.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Really, so you should maybe look into a VPN. What
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  Speaker 1: does that stand for?
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: Crafts Virtual Private Network?
• 20:21
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• 21:02
  Speaker 2: slash foul. This has been your tech update Keep your
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Data Safe Satday. So, if the offense is the number
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: one concern, what is the number two concern in terms
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: of departments of the ball club right now?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: On the field, That's.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: A good question.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: I mean, the starting pitching has been so consistent and
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: it's kind of one of those things for me where
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: I'm like, does this keep lasting? Is this going to
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: last and they just go out there and they keep performing.
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: Even even showed a last night. I was like, oh,
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: here's that rough start for him. No, he just had
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: a bad first inning and then cruised through it to
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: get into through six innings. So you know, they have
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: a really solid starting rotation. I guess you could point
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: to the bullpen, but I like their group even without Palencia.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: I think there's guys that can step up. I'm not
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: one hundred percent back in on Porter Hodge, but he
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: had a great weekend and now he's going to have
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: to get more opportunities because because of Valencia. Michael's arka
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: is going to come back and he's going to be
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: He's going to be used in a bullpen role and
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: he was really good in that role with the White
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Sox last year, and I think he sounds like his
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: velocities back to what it was earlier in the season.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: They found some mechanical tweaks and he's had a couple
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: of live vps. He'll pitch in it with Iowa on Wednesday,
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: So I actually like the bullpen. But bullpens are always
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: a concern as far as you know, just just watching baseball,
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: you never know day to day what a bullpen will
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: look like because one injury, one you know, someone's mechanics
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: go off. It's just so so volatile in that group.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: So I guess you'd point to here are the two
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: things out point to do they have a stud starting pitcher.
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: I think we probably went into the season wondering that,
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: and it was a question at the deadline and.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: Still ask that.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: I really like Kate Horton and the way he's looked.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: And then just bullpens in general, they're so volatile. I
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: just never never know what you're gonna get. I do
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: like the top group, especially Brad Keller. What he's done
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: since the All Star Break is just remarkable.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Hey, Sada, if you look back to the previous I
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: don't know, ten fifteen years of the team right with
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Jed Horier being there, I think for close to that
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: long at this point with THEO back then leading up
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: to the World Series title, I feel like it was
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: about them developing position players and then of course, you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: making some nice signings with pitchers.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I think, you know what I'm getting to have They.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Figured out the homegrown pitcher situation a little bit more
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: here as we talk about whore In and some of
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: these relievers that came through the system.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: I think they have more work to do. I think
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: they have good pitchers. Jackson Wiggins is a really good prospect,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: and I think people probably look at them as one
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: of the top pitching prospects starting pitching prospects. After that,
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: there's some question marks, and I think they need to
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: do They need to find more pitching. It's the lifeblood
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: of an organization. Your farm system is really important, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: developing pitching. I think that's kind of what unraveled if
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: you want to, you know, there's a lot of things
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: you could talk about, but what unraveled the potential greatness
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: of that twenty sixteen team to really, you know, last longer.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: The lack of their ability to develop pitching during that
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: time really hurt them. It's better than it was, but
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: it was really bad before. It was bottom of the
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: league before, and now it's better. I think they would
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: like to be even better. I think they would like
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: to have more at the bottom levels. I've heard some
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: names of guys that may be interesting, but they're really young.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: There's nobody that's really popped this year. While there are
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: other ords that are able to draft in the second round,
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: the fifth round, the tenth round, and get these guys
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: at the high high bonus guys in the later rounds
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: and have them pop. It hasn't fully happened yet. Kate
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Horton is a great story. There's some good bullpen arms,
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: You're right, and then after Jackson Wiggins, the Brandon bird
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: Sell injury really hurts them. There's, like I said, there's
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: an arm or two that you could point to at
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: the lower levels and say, Okay, I'm intrigued, but nothing
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: has popped yet, and I think they'd like to see that.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: I have one more question about their lineup. Saya Suzuki
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: was leading the league in RBIs and I know RBI's
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: are a hated stat by many, but as a player,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: RBI's means runs batted in. What has happened to him
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: since the All Star Break?
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know if it's a I think he's healthy.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: There's no indication that that's that's an issue. I've seen
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: some games. Some of it I think may be confidence,
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: because I do think so much of this game is
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: you don't something. You hit the crap out of the
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: ball and it doesn't fall. The win knocks it down.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: Wrigley has been really hard on hitters once again, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: you don't get those, and you start to wonder what
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: am I doing wrong?
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Why am I not getting results?
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: That that gets in your head and compounds and its
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: snowballs into more poor results, when the right answer was
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: don't change anything.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: You're doing the right things.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: The hits will start to come and you you're seeing
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: u uh, oh, I'm not getting the home runs. I'm
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: not getting the extra base hits. What do I need
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: to just what do I need to change? I am
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: seeing some there is some hard contact, but again I'm
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: seeing it on the ground a little too much. I
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: haven't looked at the numbers exactly on that, but just
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: anecdotally what I'm remembering. Some are some hard ground balls
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: he did that. He does that when he's in a funk,
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: when his swing isn't when his timing isn't exactly right.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: I don't think it's something that's not fixable. But obviously,
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: what do we have three weeks left? H He's got
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: to get going. Uh And I think he's That's part
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: of the issue. You can focus on Pca and Tucker,
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: but these other guys have to have to perform too.
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: They haven't fallen off a cliff as far as their
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: one loss record, so I guess some other guys have
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: stepped up, stepped up match offer a period and half,
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: but say it has to get back to close to
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: what he was in the first half. The power is
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: just gone. I think one home run in like a month,
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: month and a half, it's been pretty rough.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: I know that they're not going to necessarily have him
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: get replaced by the name I'm going to bring up,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: and he's going to be on the roster, But it
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: just got me thinking about Owen Casey and now he
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: got called up for a minute, showed some nice signs
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: of things, and I think he's proven what he's needed
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: to prove in the minor leagues. But will we see
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: him again in the majors if there's no injury replacement
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: situation and this he just part of a logjam.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: So the way Council described it was this he was
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: sent down because he's not going to sit his regulars.
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: Council believes to get where they need to get, those
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: guys need to perform.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: I agree with him.
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: If Owen Casey is your savior, that you probably have
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: a problem going on because you have some really good players,
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: so all those guys need to perform. Yes, I think
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: the reason he got sent down is because he wasn't
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: playing every day. And when you're an everyday player in
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: the miners and suddenly you're sitting, you're gonna lose your rhythm,
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: You're gonna not be you know, it's gonna be hard
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: for you to come off the bench and perform. So
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: they replaced him with Kevin Olcontra. They also wanted to
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: get some days off for Pete k Armstrong. Al Contra
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: can play in center field. I think eventually, when al
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: Contra starts sitting on the bench for an extended period
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: of time, which has happened, they're going to switch him out.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: That's essentially what council told us.
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: That's why they made the move, and the owe case
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: he will be back assuming help get him every day
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: at bats at Triple A, and he'll and he'll come
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: back and then kind of fill that similar role that
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: he was filling. I don't think every day at bats
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: are in his future outside of an injury this season. Obviously,
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: they didn't trade him, and if they don't trade him
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: in the winter, he has a future with this team,
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: especially if they I mean, obviously, if they don't sign
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: Kyle Tucker.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course to day of good stuff. Good catching
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: up with you. Thanks for the time, and we'll talk
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: to you, I'm sure soon again.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Of course, thanks for having you guys, Take care.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: You can listen to Sadev and Patrick Mooney on North
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Side Territory. You get three episodes per week. It's free,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: so is everything YouTube podcast platforms. Go for it, check
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: it out. Dialed in, super knowledgeable on these teams, been
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: covering them for a long time and obviously the Cups
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: are making noise out there in Chicago this year.